The Bank of New York Mellon yesterday committed $3 million over six years to revitalization efforts in the Hill District.

The move resulted from the Community Benefits Agreement that the city, county, Penguins and Sports & Exhibition Authority worked out with the One Hill Coalition, a collaboration of more than 100 neighborhood groups.

During the announcement at the Legacy Apartments, five toddlers scrunched together on a sofa like a collection of dolls were cajoled to wiggle to the floor and line up behind a two-by-four-foot cardboard check for $3 million. As people snapped photos of the puzzled children, Vince Sands, chairman of BNY Mellon-Pennsylvania said, "This is why we do this."

The children are students in the Hill House Association's Early Learning Child Development program.

An advisory committee of the parties involved will decide how the $500,000 yearly allotment will be spent, from community development and job training to affordable housing, family-building programs and the arts. The Hill House Association will administer the money, which will come through the state's Neighborhood Partnership Program.

"Today is evidence of the value CBAs bring to a community," said Evan Frazier, president and chief executive officer of the Hill House. "It proves what's possible when institutions, corporations, the public and public officials come together for the collective good."

The parties signed the CBA in August after months of negotiations.

One Hill was cobbled together from its many, often fractious, parts after the Penguins proposed to raze and replace Mellon Arena.

City Councilwoman Tonya Payne said that when she and Carl Redwood, who became the chair of One Hill, "first talked about forming One Hill, we got so much heat" from various Hill advocates whose groups often feud. Critics accused them of self-interest, she said, "but what we wanted was to see the community empowered."

"This is an unprecedented commitment to the Hill District," said Alma Speed Fox, a longtime neighborhood advocate and member of One Hill. Her understatement, that "the road to the CBA was not always smooth," prompted chuckles around the room. "It's wonderful that we've gotten this far."

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said that some personalities involved made him, at times, skeptical of success, "but this is another exciting day for the Hill. You're going to see this community revitalized and be the neighborhood it once was."